Through Another's Eyes
by the monochromatic
Summary: "Being a child, Rin often saw things she wasn't supposed to. That was the nature of her tiny life." Inucest, consider yourself notified.


Hello there! I have lurked around the site for a while, but finally decided to make an account and write.

First things first: I don't own InuYasha or anything pertaining to it.

This was just an idea I had floating around my head for a while, and I liked it enough to put it into writing. I imagined it might be able to take place between the time Kagome disappeared and the time she came back, although obviously it has no place in canon. Enjoy :)

* * *

><p>Being a child, Rin often witnessed things she wasn't supposed to. That was the nature of her tiny life. Most times, the consequences were a far cry from dire, and these surreptitious glimpses into life were harmless, forgotten. But these instances were becoming increasingly frequent, and held a new, personal interest for her. For lately, they had come to include Lord Sesshomaru. She couldn't remember exactly when this began, but there were fragments, short bursts of memory that stood out from the rest...<p>

_Rin sat on the ground with a bowl of rice and fish, alongside InuYasha and his friends. Kohaku was away with Kirara and Sango, but there was still Shippo to keep her company. And besides, Lord Sesshomaru had joined them! Of course, he touched nothing, but in his quiet, impassive way, he remained._

_ InuYasha was speaking with the monk, Miroku, having a good laugh about something, but his attention seemed diverted, hacked in two. His ears kept twitching, and his eyes never held a steady gaze. Instead, they would dart back and forth between Miroku and Lord Sesshomaru. Rin wondered if the hanyou might be suffering some ailment, because his color was rising under his collar. _

_ Returning to her bowl, Rin began to scrape the last of her rice into the depression so as to fish it out more easily. _

_ "How is your supper, Rin?" Lord Sesshomaru's voice, hushed and mellifluous, surprised everyone but her. _

_ "It's very good, thank you," she answered cheerfully. Lord Sesshomaru stroked her hair and left her to finish her food. But as she ate, Rin watched. And there it was: the thing she wasn't supposed to see._

_ Lord Sesshomaru! The expression splashed across his face! It was so subtle, so hardly astray from his usual icy countenance that a stranger would never have noticed it, not given a century to see it. But Rin saw. His expression was of softened frustration, as if he were piecing together a frighteningly difficult, fragile glass puzzle. And if he lost his concentration or failed to retain his patience, the puzzle would shatter and be ruined, its picture forever a mystery. But there was more to it – even young Rin could ascertain _that. _Lord Sesshomaru's amber eyes searched his brother up and down...but for what? Was a piece of his precious puzzle missing? Or was he merely admiring his work thus far? It was impossible to know. And though the hanyou never once acknowledged his brother's stare, he seemed to shudder beneath it. _

_ At last, InuYasha's face rose to meet Lord Sesshomaru's, and for the briefest moment, their identical eyes locked. But then Lord Sesshomaru looked away – almost in shame – and it was over._

After that encounter, Rin's stomach had been upset, plagued with something akin to sadness, though she knew not why.

Another time she observed something private, it had been mostly on InuYasha...

_Frolicking in the shallow hills nearby, Rin had tumbled through the grass and flowers, coming to a giggling halt upside-down. She watched a butterfly for a while as it climbed through the air, yellow wings ablaze against the pink and lilac dusk. And through the dusty haze of twilight, under a flowering tree, Lord Sesshomaru stood alone, his bushy fur blowing behind him in the light breeze. _

_ InuYasha came to stand by his side, cautiously, as if he expected to be bitten at any moment. Maybe he did._ _Even if it shouldn't have, the notion struck Rin as absurd and amusing. But then, something happened – something she was not meant to see. _

_ As carefully as InuYasha had approached, Lord Sesshomaru reached out his hand as if to touch his brother's, then stopped halfway between them, fingers trembling apprehensively. Rin felt her eyes grow wide, wanting to run over and press their hands together, to see if it might make him smile – she was as curious as he. But when at last he brushed his claws over InuYasha's hand, he was too slow, and as if he'd been burned, InuYasha withdrew from the touch; it was so harsh that Rin felt the sting. _

_ There was a lurch then, in her master's posture: he had become a withered flower, closing before the rising moon._

Rin had been saddened at first, but time had worn on; adventures were had, games were played, and she mostly forgot about it. Yet, more and more she saw what she oughtn't have, and each time became significant.

Really, the next instance was composed of numerous moments. As of late, Rin had caught Lord Sesshomaru and InuYasha _kissing_. It happened on countless occasions, usually when they presumed to be alone, or when the bolder, younger hanyou thought he could steal a kiss in secret.

Even Jaken had started to notice, and his reproachful disapproval was a source of equal irritation and amusement for Rin. He spouted only in the little girl's presence, for fear of what retaliation might come of voicing his opinions to their master – and rightfully so.

Rin could not understand this criticism, for these kisses – habitually sweet things – put a new kind of glow on Lord Sesshomaru's unyielding face, a happiness. And whenever she caught these kisses, they left her with something warm and tingly in the pit of her belly, like it was full of summer moths. But then, there was that _one time_...

_Propped up against Ah-Un, Rin was fiddling with a mind-boggling string toy Kaede had gifted her, when she looked up, only to catch the brothers at one of their odd games. It resembled some cross of tag with hide-and-go-seek. Though it was obviously Lord Sesshomaru's turn to hide, it seemed he was also to perform the tagging. Rin stopped to watch._

_ Unfathomably stealthy, he stalked the incredibly vulnerable, incredibly _human_ InuYasha, first through the thick branches of trees, then soundlessly crouching in the shadows of night. This game hardly seemed fair to Rin, advantageous as it was to the youkai. But there was a gleam in his eyes Rin had never seen there before: _play, fun_. He continued with his silent hunt until at length, he struck, ambushing his brother from behind, startling him. A blissful yell tore from his throat as Lord Sesshomaru lifted him into the air, catching him, and then crushing their lips together. _

This kiss had _not_ given Rin warm tingles, however. It had lasted far too long, and the manner in which InuYasha had melted into Sesshomaru-sama was unnerving; it had transformed Rin's warm tingles into embarrassing nausea.

And speaking of embarrassment and nausea...

_Rin awoke with a fright. She turned her head this way and that, trying to figure out where she was and what was going on. Then she remembered, the little abandoned house...Ah-Un was just outside...everything was okay. Jaken was asleep a few feet over on the floor, peaceful, snoring. What had woken her? She did not know, for she had been swaddled in a deep, heavy sleep and her mind was still jumbled from the start into waking life. _

Bump. _Rin jumped. _That's _what had woken her up. The noise exploded through the small house a second time, and a third, so gathering all her courage, Rin stepped out of bed and edged into the hall. Flattening herself against the wall, she hesitated, unsure if she should investigate or run and hide beneath her covers. But the sound emerged again, accompanied this time by a feral growl. The thudding of her heartbeat compelled her forward. Quietly as she could, Rin crawled slowly through the hall, following the sporadic bumps and other sounds. Through the dark, hand over hand, knee over knee, she pressed on, persevering until – _

_ Lord Sesshomaru, teeth bared, face half-obscured by his curtain of silver hair, was atop InuYasha, whose face was marred by an odd combination of agony and...was that...joy? Hair disheveled, eyes shut...despite his obvious pain, the hanyou looked happy to be right where he was. _

_ Flushed and confused, Rin slumped against the wall, frozen in place until there was a great noise – like thunder and the roar of two rabid animals – and then, nothing. She peeked around the corner just once more. _

_ InuYasha was curled in on himself, a crumbled heap, with Sesshomaru-sama's marked, slender arm draped over him. It was nearly impossible to tell where one stopped and the other began. So Rin clambered back into bed, telling herself that perhaps poor InuYasha had endured a terrible dream and that Lord Sesshomaru had come to console him...but deep down, she knew for certain that's not what she had seen. _

Indeed, Rin observed plenty of things she probably shouldn't have, but such is the life of an inquisitive child.

* * *

><p>Complements or constructive criticism are always welcome :)<p> 


End file.
